Eamonn Pitts reports from a recent Teagasc/National Rural Network conference on prospects for development of the rural economy

VIGILANCE among farm workers involves a few minutes of forethought and planning which could save lives, IFA deputy president Eddie Downey told an Irish meeting on Agricultural Occupational Health and Safety in Dublin yesterday.

A MERE 4% of Irish farmers are involved in non-farming secondary activities on their own land, according to a study issued by the National Rural Network, Teagasc and LEADER.

THERE is an urgent need for greater emphasis on the rural economy and rural communities by policymakers, a Teagasc expert has suggested.

THE economic downturn is hitting part-time farmers hard, according to an assessment by a Teagasc researcher.

THE Celtic Tiger hid a serious issue regarding jobs in rural areas, but that is now being unmasked by the economic downturn which has seen a massive 30% decline in off-farm employment, a Teagasc conference was told in Cork yesterday.

FARMING accounted for almost 40% of all workplace fatalities in 2008, although just over 6% of the workforce is employed in the agri-sector.

AN Australian man was sentenced to life in prison for murdering a teenager who was stabbed 133 times and then decapitated in an alcohol-fuelled argument.

TEAGASC has initiated a study to examine the impact of disability among farmers. It follows recent CSO data, which shows that the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors report the highest level of disability relative to any other.

THE midlands and south-east are emerging as the new disadvantaged areas, a conference on rural development heard in Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday.

A court hearing an appeal by a man serving a life sentence for starting a fire that killed 15 young backpackers, including one Irish girl, in eastern Australia was today told that his confession was not made under duress.

A Brisbane Supreme Court jury was unable to reach a verdict today in the trial of accused Childers hostel arsonist Robert Paul Long.

Prosecutors today built a compelling case against an itinerant fruit picker charged with starting a fire at an Australian hostel that killed 15 young travellers, including a girl from Limerick.

A fruit picker who allegedly started a fire at a Australian hostel that killed 15 travellers, including an Irish girl, had ‘‘expressed antagonism to backpackers in general’’ before the blaze, a prosecutor said today.